Are You Not Entertained?

Howdy there folks. Been some time I know and I apologize to the 3 people who actually check this blog. My bad, but I've been busy. I've talked a lot about politics and some of the generally horrible stuff going on in the world, but for this post, I'm going back to the one thing I know really well: sports. This year, the sports world has been shocked by the allegations and confessions that both Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez are (and most likely were) steroid users. Talking heads talk of their "disappointment" and "dismay" that players of their stature would even consider using steroids. When it comes down to it, however, it doesn't really matter. Steroids or no, , the MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL and even the MLS are as exciting as they've been as least in my 23+ years on this planet. Professional sports are, have always been and always will be a diversion; an organized form of entertainment. Regardless of the health and moral issues associated with steroids, have you not been entertained during the so-called "Steroid Era"?

To start, anybody who hates on steroids and steroids users has a short memory. How many among us were not enthralled during the summer of 1998 when Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa were pumping out homeruns at incredible paces? For all the sanctimonious baseball writers who say they will never vote either of these men into the Hall of Fame, without them, most of you would not have a job right now. Those two men, not Cal Ripken, saved baseball after the strike of '94. Sure, it was awesome and impressive to see Cal break Lou Gehrig's consecutive game streak, but let's be honest, stadiums don't sell out to see a guy show up to work a lot. Chicks dig the long ball. Admit it, even for those of us who appreciate a seeing eye single between short and third, a home run is still the coolest thing in baseball. As Roger Angell succintly put it, "Home runs tend to stop a game--the men on base, the defensive deployments, the pitcher's struggles, the count, the score--has been snipped, and all our attention falls on the hero."

Second, and I've said this before on this very blog, sports is a business. As much as we like to thing that there is something pure about sports (and there is to some extent), sports are a BIG business nowadays. Just like everything else, capitalism has turned sports into a commodity; something bought and sold at ever-increasing prices. As competition increases, participants in the commodity chain have to take ever more drastic steps to gain an advantages over others. This in turn makes them big bucks. I do not judge or hate on any ahtlete for using steroids. If owners are going to pay me to hit balls 500ft 50 times a year, then I'm going to take their money. Show me a person who wouldn't want to get paid to play any sport for a living and I'll show you a psycho. ARod, Manny, Sosa, McGuire, etc. get or got paid to play ball everyday. Sure beats sitting at a cubicle, teaching bratty middle schoolers or picking up garbage (nothing wrong with any other things, but playing ball everyday is definitely better). Judge ARod and Manny all you want, but you'll have to judge them all the way to the bank. Sure, you may be disappointed in them, but their checks still clear every two weeks. And if you really want to judge somebody, judge the people in the financial sector who have shaken our economy to the ground. ARod may be an asshole, but it's not his fault that your 401(k) has no money in it anymore.

Finally, let's take baseball, and all sports, for what it's worth. They are entertainment. They give us something to look forward to after a long day of work. They, perhaps more than any other institutions in the U.S. bring people together to focus on something positive. They keep thousands of children and adults in shape by offering a cheap form of exercise. They allow us to follow rules that, for better or worse, make sense to us. Sports are just plain fun. Steroids don't ruin the fun. What steroids have done is pulled away the curtain that protects us from seeing the business of sports. And always remember, no matter the level, it is just a game. As the man Reggie Jackson said, "I am reminded that when we lose and I strike out, a billion people in China don't care." There are far greater problems in the world than anything that happens in the sports business. But business though it may be, it is the most entertaining business I know.

Please Read This

Please, just read this article. It's a little long, but please do it. It'll be worth your while.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover

Madoff Mayhem

Ok, before I begin this rant, look at this picture. My man Bernie is straight pimpin'. Not only does he not have to carry his own umbrella, but the person who carries it for him remains out of his sight. Shalom L'chaim bro.

Bernie Madoff is an asshole. He knowingly defrauded hundreds of his own people out of their life savings in order to make himself a fortune. As of today, he's set up to spend his last days behind bars. That's fine, but for people like this I'm a bigger fan of the firing squad (that's quick, no sodium pentathol).

So Madoff is done (sorry, but Bernie in my book is CF #51, so I won't tarnish the name anymore). Good job justice system, you got something right for once. But, one question: Where are the prison sentences for the CEOs of AIG, Lehmann Bros., Bear Stearns, Citi, BofA and the heads of Fannie and Freddie? All these usurers got us to where we are now; in a drain spinning down.

It would be hard to any lawyer or politician to convince me that these people don't belong behind bars making friends with some poor minority inmates. Not only would it be an interesting experiment to see the winner of Darwinism v. Social Darwinism, but it would be righteous. We are a country that jails 2.2 million citizens. Over 1 million of those are for non-violent drug offenses. Most of these 2.2M come from poverty. Yet those with suits and an MBA get a slap on the wrist. Their children get to keep their trust funds and Upper West Side palace apartments. This has nothing to do with white or black, but everything to do with rich or poor.

It's the white collar criminals who really ruin people's lives. In hard times, people want their money to be safe, yet the greed of a few has ruined the frugality of the many. You never hear of bank robberies anymore; maybe it's that the bankers have already taken it for themselves.

Drugs are bad, but a drug dealer never took hundreds of his own people for their life savings. Drug dealers buy for a nickel and sell for a dime. Drug dealers are trying to be successful in a society that has set them up for failure. Drug dealers never bought up bogus mortgages. Drug dealers know better than to lend money to people who can't pay it back. What is and is not a crime is a social-construction. Selling drugs is illegal because poor people do it. Buying up bad mortgages and speculating with other's money isn't because people do it from an office with a suit on.

"Capitalism is glorified institutionalized street crime. "

No, You're the Asshole

Let me start by saying that I have never been a big fan of ARod. I never wanted the Yankees to get him, but hell, the man is an incredible baseball player no matter what I think of him personally. As anyone who hasn't been living in the Congo knows, it turns out that ARod used steroids between 2001 and 2003 (at least). Once again, I need to say it: So What? Why is this such a big deal?

I can't tell you how many times I've heard the expression, "Well, [insert players name] knows that [insert sport here] is a business" whenever a player is getting cut or traded. Owners and GMs will do almost anything to win. They'll cut or veteran players who have played their hearts out for a team. They'll give up on young players before they have a chance to prove themselves. Anything. As long as the team remains profitable. But when a player tries to get an advantage to make himself more profitable and get paid, this is a problem.

If we, as fans have to accept the fact that baseball is indeed a business, then we have to accept that everyone involved is, in his own way, a businessman. ARod did the equivalent of bankers giving out bad loans in hopes of a personal payout. People will judge ARod and people will hate on him a ton. He made a raitonal choice: the risk of taking steroids did not did not outweight $25 million per year. I'm sure whoever came up with that headline figured the risk of public insulting someone did not outweigh the notoriety he would get in his job. But I ask of anyone willing ot cast judgement: If you knew you could get $25 million per year for the next decade, but you had to take steroids, wouldn't you at least consider it?

Michael Phelps, Rockin the Ganj

Michael Phelps is pretty much the man. He has 14 Gold Medals, 7 world records and was born 31 days before yours truly. I've graduated college, that's about it. Now Phelps has experimented with the most deadly drug in the world, marijuana. The drug that automatically makes you try heroin within seconds of inhalation. The drug that has been the scourge of the inner cities since the 1980s. The drug that will make you bigger, faster, stronger and get you into professional sports. The drug that you can get from a doctor and then sell to all your friends who want to stay up late and study for finals. Oh wait, none of those things are pot. My damn memory's going....

There's an old saying that you can't judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes. Fair enough. So, anyone who wants to start throwing stones at Phelps, feel free to do so, but remember, you have to walk a mile in his shoes. You have to imagine being the most famous swimmer in the history of the sport. You have to imagine being the person who made millions tune into the Olympics even though doing so would be tacit acceptance of China (ew, gross). You have to imagine having broken Mark Spitz's record for individual gold medals in one Olympics. You have to imagine having done all this and being 23 years old. I wish I could be a criminal like Michael Phelps.

Everyone needs to back the fuck up. The dude toked a bong at a party, the reefer equivalent of taking a shot of Cuervo someone hands you even though tequila makes you sick. Yea, I know he's a role model and kids look up to him. It is parents' responsibilities to make sure their kids aren't smoking pot (or maybe to make sure they are smoking pot to aid them in winning 14 gold medals - think about it); so sucks to that argument. Yea, he broke the law. I broke the law about 20 minutes ago, I was going 55 in a 40 zone and that endangered a lot more youngins than Michael Phelps. This incident is perhaps the greatest argument for the legalization of marijuana. The United States, where pot is illegal but the President, a Supreme Court Justice, and its most famous athlete have toked. The United States, land of free, home of the hypocrites.

Spittin' Truth

I'm going to keep this simple. I've been considering keeping up with the election and blogging like every few weeks, but there hasn't been much to talk about as far as I'm concerned. Most of the real issues that I care about are never discussed.

I voted for Obama, absentee, two weeks ago. There, I said it.

Look at this http://www.economist.com/vote2008/. Countries like Cuba and Iraq support McCain, so that should tell you something. And another thing, forget all the jokes and personal attacks on Sarah Palin, the woman doesn't fucking read. Why isn't that a bigger deal? She chooses to be ignorant. She couldn't even name a news magazine or a newspaper. I'm sorry but I don't want anyone in public office to not even read. Call me an elitist, but I don't want anyone running my country who chooses to be ignorant.

What's also bullshit is that people think Obama getting elected puts us in a "post-racial" society. No way. A kid I met in a bar one night down here in Blacksburg, VA (the real Virginia, a little pocket of the real America) who introduced himself so: "My name is Wes, the W stands for white power". Like I'm down with that ignorant crap just because I'm white. You think Obama getting elected is going to change his mind about black people? Hell no. And he's only one of many in this country I'm sure.

I apologize for the rant but its been frustrating to see our country and world at the brink of disaster and yet people in this country still focus on bullshit like "Joe the Plumber". Does it bother anyone else that no one ever talks about poor people anymore? NAFTA is a non-issue somehow. We've lost over 900,000 jobs to it in a little more than a decade. Get out of that nonsense and our economy will improve. It's not free trade if only big corporations get to trade freely. Ok, rant over.

In conclusion, I just hope the next 4 years will be better than the last 4. I hope Barack Obama can make them better.

Postscript. Just a reminder: The New York Football Giants are reigning SuperBowl Champions and currently have a record of 6-1. Go Giants. Oh, and the Terps are ranked in football, so I guess things arent' that bad.

Douche v. Turd 2008

Well, it's time to concede. Q's man Ron Paul is out of the running for the Presidency in 2008 and once again, Americans are left with less than stellar options for their choice of President. I'll freely admit that I'm not staunch Republican or Democrat (it's hard to be staunch anything when both parties are both composed of ambitious millionaires). It seems as though McCain's economic policy is similar to Bush's (= less money in your and my pocket). And for all the imagery of Barack Obama which would no doubt be positive for America's international image at a time when it is so low, there are a few questions I would like all of you to consider when picking your candidate on November 4th (or earlier for those of us with an absentee ballot):


1. Mr. President, what do you intend to do with the PATRIOT Act? Will you try to revoke this legislation that limits our civil liberties and allows greater spying powers by our own police forces? Furthermore, how will you deal with the detainees at Guantanamo Bay? Will they be given fair trials like any other prisoner of war or we continue to be the country that "spreads democracy" while not giving it to our own people or our prisoners of war?


2. Mr. President, what, if any Executive powers will you give back to the Congress, to the states, to other governmental entities, and most importantly to the people? Mr. Bush in his tenure has increased the unchecked powers of the presidency exponentially. Will you exponentially give them back or are you as power-hungry as your predecessor?


3. Mr. President, how willing are you to pander to the religious zealots in this country? Will you concede that issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion have no business in the federal government? If I recall there is nothing in any section of the Constitution about such matters, therefore they should be given to the states, no?


4. Mr. President, how do you feel about the legislation of morality? Why are penalties for recreational drugs under the guise of the federal government (FBI, DEA, ATF, etc.)? Those issues should also be handled by the states as they are not explicitly mentioned in the constitution either. Will you still allow federal agents to trump state power (unconstitutional) and raid state sanctioned marijuana distributors in places like California? Shouldn't cancer patients be able to get some relief from their pain? Is not the purpose of drugs to work? If you want a boner, don't you take a Viagra? People use it because it works.


5. Finally Mr. President, why aren't we out of Iraq yet? You've wasted all this time talking to me and yet our troops are still being shot at by angry Iraqis. When will you realize that country has been fought over for centuries with no clear winner? Ask the British, they tried the same thing and they failed. What excuse could you possibly have to have our young men and women killed and maimed in a desert? We cut and ran in Lebanon and Vietnam, why is this war any different? Staying in Iraq justifies what George W. Bush did and I thought you were different from him. Maybe nogt.